'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag' rakes in Rs 31.3 crore in its opening weekend

With Lootera and Policegiri on their way out, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Bhaag Milkha Bhaag seemed to have capitalised on it. According to the trade, Milkha Singh’s biopic has fared well over the weekend with the collections topping Rs 31.3 crore.

A still from Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

After a good initial response, Ranveer Singh-Sonakshi Sinha’s film slowed down at the BO, while Sanjay Dutt’s cop caper stopped at Rs 13.67 crore in its first week. Trade analyst Amod Mehra says, “Bhaag Milkha is doing very well.

Though the film began on a slow note on Friday morning, it picked up speed the afternoon onwards. Saturday was better and Sunday was even better. Since the film is above three hours it got fewer shows but given the audience reaction, the recovery won’t be an issue.”

According to distributor Suniel Wadhwa, the north Indian territories are believed to be fetching bigger dividends. He says, “Since Milkha is from Punjab, the northern territories will do great. Lootera has seen a drop of 70 to 80 per cent over the weekend.” Distributor Sunny Khanna says, “Bhaag Milkha is running a marathon at the box office (Thursday: Rs 90 lakh, Friday: Rs 8.35 crore, Saturday: Rs 10.15 crore, Sunday: Rs 11.90 crore).”

Sixteen had a poor response at box office and collected around Rs 50 lakh only in the first weekend. Lootera collected Rs 2 crore net in its second weekend, which is a drop of 87 per cent from its first weekend (Rs 15.35 crore).